Fish bowl cooling class A

[JCat]

I have always had a problem cooling and heating the fish bowl on my RV.
The dash air has never cooled the fish bowl and the front air does not send enough air while driving to the front.

I’ve tried directing the flow to the front, using a fan to push the cool air to the front, nothing works.

Also I do drive mostly out west with temps over 90 many times.

So has anyone done any creative ac mods to help this situation ?

Like replacing the dash ac system and putting in something that works, or adding some type of stand alone ac unit in the front ?

Let me know

Jcat
2004 Mandalay 40 D

[dougrainer]

JCat wrote:
Doug - never heard “fishbowl” come on man, that’s been around for 41 years 🙂

And Robs post is right on the money as far as a mandalay is concerned

I would love to add another ac unit above the fish bowl, but unfortunately that is where direct tv lives.
I need DT when I’m camping, and roughing it.

Lemmee explain to you:B I am 66 years old. From 1973 until 1978, I built both Class C and Class A Motorhomes in Middlebury, Indiana. From 1979 until now (42 years!), I have been a DFW based RV Tech and for the first 20 years, I was basically a Class A/Class C motorhome Service Tech, and when we branched out to towables in the 1990's I also serviced Towables. I have been a Master Certified Tech for almost 25 years, I was one of the first to achieve Master Certification. So, I have heard what I thought was ALL slang over the years. We sold National out of California, so at no time did I hear the term Fishbowl. Just in the past 3 weeks I heard a Leveling Jack called a "Stanchion". Which IS a correct term for a jack, just not used in the RV industry. So, I now know what a Stanchion and a Fishbowl is.:B Doug

PS, you bring your Motorhome in before this thread and stated you had a problem with your Fishbowl, I would have to call you to find out what you mean or I would have the Service Advisor call you and tell you to get your problem fixed at a Pet Store:)

[JCat]

Doug - never heard “fishbowl” come on man, that’s been around for 41 years 🙂

And Robs post is right on the money as far as a mandalay is concerned

I would love to add another ac unit above the fish bowl, but unfortunately that is where direct tv lives.
I need DT when I’m camping, and roughing it.

[rgatijnet1]

I have a Monaco gasser but for what it is worth, your problem may be the lack of insulation above your cockpit. On my unit I had to remove the front cabinets because of another issue. What I found was that they had put in fiberglass insulation that had shifted and compressed. I had areas where the front cap actually had no insulation covering it at all. I removed all of the fiberglass insulation and replaced it with spray on closed cell foam that I bought on eBay. This is a two part foam that expands when it sticks to the surface. This made a huge improvement in keeping the temperature down in the front of the coach. I also made sure that the roof above the cockpit was painted white. You might see if you can see behind your overhead cabinets and check the condition of the fiberglass insulation.

[Acampingwewillg]

My dash AC hasn't worked in 20 years and I too, live in So. Calif so I've tried just about everything short of fixing the dash air. The portable AC did work somewhat but fabrication an exhaust port with that funky 6" hose is difficult.

To cut to the chase, since your dash air works your way ahead of me already so short of adding another roof air directly above your "fishbowl"...fan are your friend.
Good luck!

[rdhetrick]

JCat wrote:
I have always had a problem cooling and heating the fish bowl on my RV.
The dash air has never cooled the fish bowl and the front air does not send enough air while driving to the front.

I’ve tried directing the flow to the front, using a fan to push the cool air to the front, nothing works.

Also I do drive mostly out west with temps over 90 many times.

So has anyone done any creative ac mods to help this situation ?

Like replacing the dash ac system and putting in something that works, or adding some type of stand alone ac unit in the front ?

Let me know

Jcat
2004 Mandalay 40 D

Having a very similar coach as you, I face the exact same problem. Hot in the summer, cold in the winter. In the winter, I can feel the cold air, in the summer, it's just generally hot. I suspect air leaking in from outside but I haven't been able to pinpoint where it's coming from. I even put a fog machine in the generator bay while parked looking to see where the air came in, with no luck.

In the summer, I've had the most success opening the louvers on the front air so most of the air blows straight down, and a fan a few feet behind that blowing forward. Certainly not cold up front, but made it a little more tolerable. My bigger problem is keeping the engine from overheating in those conditions!

I recently got a thermal camera and will be using it on my next trip to try and see where the air is coming in from - I suspect it might be around the stair well. It will probably be more revealing in the winter, but I'll try it anyway. If I come up with anything useful, I'll follow up here.

Forgot to mention - I had the dash air serviced a few years ago, it seemed to help in the sub 90 temps, but didn't make a difference above 90. The next year, it didn't seem to make much difference at any temp, and I'm not about to spend $500 or $600 each year for a marginal improvement.

[dougrainer]

1. I have 50 years in the RV industry. NEVER heard the term "Fishbowl". WHERE did you get that saying?
2. I would try to get a 2 inch type Dash AC flexible hose and fabricate a way to connect to the forward Roof AC AC vent and use clips to allow that cold air from the Roof AC's to blow cold air up to your "Fishbowl". Also, you don't state, but just what is the Dash AC output temp at 60 mph on MAX/Cool? It should be under 60 degrees closer to 50 degrees. If NOT, then that is your problem. I doubt your driving temps are lower than North Texas in the summer(90 to 105). I never have complaints from my Customers that after the roof and dash were working to spec, they could not stay comfortable. We sold Mandalay 15 years ago and never had cooling complaints in transit during the hot summer months. You probably have both roof and dash systems not to spec. Doug

[Sandia_Man]

Obviously a bugaboo for motorized RVs, the larger they are the worse it is for driving in triple digit temps. All the ideas mentioned above can have some effect for some, more than likely not dramatic enough for most. We purchased our current class A in Texas and picked it up in late July enduring record temps that hovered around 115 degrees.

Previous owners replaced dash AC in hopes of making it more bearable, indeed air out of vents was really cold but the time it reached us in cockpit seats it simply did not do the trick. You can throw a bunch of money at it with minimal results, kind of like trying to get better mpg, best and most effective method is to just drive a bit slower.

We found if we just left a little bit earlier when temps soared by noon we were at least accustomed to it, thankfully my DW and I were born, raised, and lived most of our adult life in Phoenix and are able to tolerate heat somewhat. Hopefully you find a method that at least makes it more bearable, I know it would be helpful for so many with same issue.

[dodge_guy]

How do you keep the water in the bowl on rough roads?!!!!

[JCat]

Roof ac units are the high capacity 15 amp and not too old. When parked they do a great job.

Yup been thinking about a portable ac unit as well. The ducting to a window might be a PITA.
Would love to hear from anyone who has done this.

Was also thinking of those units they hang over the door of businesses they put out a lot of air

[rgatijnet1]

Try a portable AC unit that is vented to the outside and directing air right in to the cockpit, in addition to your two roof top AC units.

[Y-Guy]

We took a trip to southern Utah, temps 118° in Kanab - ugh. Running the Dash air and both roof top it was still warm. I had 2 fans blowing air from the back, helped a bit but still hot. When we parked and had our solar shade and curtains closed we could get the RV fairly cool, but not when traveling.

On another trip we did try hanging a thick shower curtain just behind the driver/passenger seats, dash air wasn't enough so we fired up the generator and had 2 of the air top vents pushing air up front and the dash. That helped but the dash just isn't powerful enough.

Reality is that it's just not well insulted enough and the front end with all that glass makes it worse. I suppose a stand alone might help, but we've just tried to avoid driving after 2PM in hot climates. I live in the desert so we've learned to adapt. What's the size of your roof top A/Cs?

[JCat]

Tried the Fan, not good enough.
Have 2 ac units on roof, they don’t cool the fish bowl when driving.

Sorry I can’t drive away from the sun or time trips for early morning or later evening.

Have cooled the fish bowl before start of trip and it stays cool for a while, then it gets hot.

Maybe I should install one of those residential attic fans in the ceiling?
Maybe not, would get me wet when it rains

[wildtoad]

I have to assume your 40’ motorhome has multiple rooftop AC’s or similar, as well as a generator sufficient to run all of them. Start the generators and turn on the AC units. If the dash AC has a recirculate option so turn that on too. As the cool air from the roof mounts get to the floor it should go up the return for the dash ac and help it cool better as well.

Where traffic conditions allow, we pull the side shades facing the sun down far enough to block the sun but not to interfere with viewing the mirrors. Do the same for the front shade down to help block out the sun.

[folivier]

Try and time your driving so you're not driving into the sun.
Let me guess, your coach has dark paint in the front? I've had 2 like that and repainted the current Foretravel with light colors and it makes a big difference. I use a Dewalt battery/120vac fan to more the air on me and keep the shades down as far as I can to keep solar gain off me.